Blog: Thanks for nothing!

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on those who you have taken for granted. I will make it up to those people.

This is also the time that I notice some folks who have taken the Northwest Asian Weekly for granted. I want to say, “Thanks for nothing,” to the following people:

The negative parent

A man had a daughter who placed in a pageant. We asked him for his quote in the paper.

“Congratulations, your daughter did well in the pageant,” I said.

“It’s no big deal to win,” the griping father said. “I did not like the idea of her running. There are more important contests with hundreds of participants.”

We did not quote the father. I don’t understand how such a wonderful and talented daughter could have such an ungrateful father.

Those who ask for too much

There are also those who assume that we are obligated to cover all their stories, print all their press releases, and print all their letters to the editor every time they send us something. If you miss one, they call and raise hell. They never think about all the other times we have covered their news. Never have we received any thanks from these people. When we do cover their story, they try to micromanage every detail. Even though our papers aim to serve the community, we are not bound to print every inconsequential detail.

The fibbers and takers

There are those who ask to use our photos, then turn around and send the photos to other papers without giving us credit. They even lie about it when they are confronted.

There are also those who demand free copies of the Seattle Chinese Post for its organization even though the paper costs 50 cents a copy.

We do our best to support community organizations, but in turn, we hope for an occasional gesture of support in return.

But there are those who would threaten us, “If you don’t do an article about us, there will be no ads.”

The vain guy/gal

Sometimes, people get rather steamed when they find out their photos are left out of the newspaper. One person was miffed to not be included among photos of performers and dignitaries at an event. So he complained about it. “Everyone was in there except me!”

Thanksgiving is a time to say thank you. Yes, thanks for nothing to the people who are never grateful! ♦